Albright: true prophets displease

Saturday, June 12, 2010
Meditation:
    They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
    —Isaiah 30:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Elijah stood in the direct line of this tradition [of prophets]. The prophet of Yahweh was still an inspired seer, whose oracles followed the ecstatic model and were seldom remembered long; the time had not come for marvelous poetic sermons, composed in advance, delivered orally and written down later by enthralled listeners or recited from generation to generation until collected into anthologies by later scholars. Pious Israelites were not far wrong in distinguishing between true prophets and false prophets of Yahweh by the impact of their words on the privileged classes; if the latter were pleased the prophet was false; if they were displeased the prophet was true.
    ... William Foxwell Albright (1891-1971), The Biblical period from Abraham to Ezra, Harper & Row, 1963, p. 65 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, free us from slavery to our comforts. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Moody: a compressed autobiography

Friday, June 11, 2010
    Feast of Barnabas the Apostle
Meditation:
    So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
    —2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all; out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body like unto His own glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.
    ... Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899), quoted in The Shorter Life of D. L. Moody, v. 1, Paul Dwight Moody & Arthur Percy Fit, Chicago: The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 1900, p. 9 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have made me to be born of the Spirit. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Taylor: prayer for acknowledging the Presence

Thursday, June 10, 2010
Meditation:
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
You hem me in—behind and before;
    you have laid your hand upon me.
    —Psalm 139:4-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This Prayer is especially to be used in temptation to private sin.
    O almighty God, infinite and eternal, Thou fillest all things with Thy presence; Thou art every where by thy essence and by Thy power; in heaven by glory, in holy places by Thy grace and favour, in the hearts of Thy servants by Thy Spirit, in the consciences of all men by Thy testimony and observation of us. Teach me to walk always as in Thy presence, to fear Thy majesty, to reverence Thy wisdom and omniscience; that I may never dare to commit any indecency in the eye of my Lord and my Judge; but that I may with so much care and reverence demean myself that my Judge may not be my accuser, but my advocate; that I, expressing the belief of Thy presence here by careful walking, may feel the effects of it in the participation of eternal glory, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. III, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847, p. 43 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    You have placed eternity in my heart, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ellul: prayer is a miracle

Wednesday, June 9, 2010
    Feast of Columba, Abbot of Iona, Missionary, 597
    Commemoration of Ephrem of Syria, Deacon, Hymnographer, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
    ... pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire...
    —1 Thessalonians 5:17-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prayer is not a means of laying hold of God; that prayer precisely is not made possible by a system, but, rather, by a free decision of grace on the part of the one who wills indeed to listen; that prayer precisely is not addressed to one who dwells at a distance, but is addressed to one who comes very close (even into our hearts!); that prayer precisely is a miracle and not a technical procedure.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), Prayer and Modern Man, New York: The Seabury Press, 1973, p. 9 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, prayer is Your instrument. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Eliot: that God would make us dangerous

Tuesday, June 8, 2010
    Feast of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath & Wells, Hymnographer, 1711
Meditation:
    The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
    —Proverbs 28:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with. But we are “harmless,” and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the Cross. We are “sideliners”—coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!
    ... Jim Elliot (1927-1956), Shadow of the Almighty: the life & testament of Jim Elliot, Elisabeth Elliot, Harper, 1958, p. 79 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, arouse Your saints! CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bounds: fire in prayer

Monday, June 7, 2010
Meditation:
May my prayer be set before you like incense;
    may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
    —Psalm 141:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    No erudition, no purity of diction, no width of mental outlook, no flowers of eloquence, no grace of person can atone for lack of fire. Prayer ascends by fire. Flame gives prayer access as well as wings, acceptance as well as energy. There is no incense without fire; no prayer without flame.
    ... E. M. Bounds (1835-1913), The Necessity of Prayer [1907], Lulu, 2007, p. 19-20 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, ignite my heart with Your fire. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lindskoog: society or humanity

Sunday, June 6, 2010
    Commemoration of Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945
Meditation:
“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,
    the ends of the earth your possession.
You will rule them with an iron scepter;
    you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
    —Psalm 2:8-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ did not die for society, but for humanity.
    ... Kathryn Lindskoog (1934-2003), C. S. Lewis, Mere Christian, Glendale, Cal.: G/L Publications, 1973, reprint, Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1981, p. 75 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, the nations groan to know Your rule. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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